CONMEBOL
Alejandro Dominguez | website = http://www.conmebol.com/ }} The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) is the continental governing body of association football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay. CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football's major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA. CONMEBOL national teams have won nine FIFA World Cups (Brazil five, Argentina and Uruguay two trophies each), and CONMEBOL clubs have won 22 Intercontinental Cups and four FIFA Club World Cups. Argentina and Uruguay have also won two Olympic gold medals each. It is considered one of the strongest confederations in the world. The World Cup qualifiers of CONMEBOL have been described as the "toughest qualifiers in the world","La eliminatoria más difícil del mundo", ESPN (in Spanish)"South American WCQ toughest in world", ESPN for their simple round-robin system, entry of some of the top national teams in the world, leveling of the weaker national teams, climate conditions, geographic conditions, strong home stands and passionate supporters. Currently, the Confederation is planning to create the first women's qualification to the FIFA Women's World Cup to replace the Copa América Femenina. Juan Ángel Napout was the interim president of CONMEBOL until March, 2015 but then he was promoted to full-time president. Napout replaced the former president Eugenio Figueredo who resigned on August 8, 2014. The first and second vicepresidents are Luis Bedoya and Sergio Jadue. History In 1916, the first edition of the Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol, now known as the Copa América, was contested in Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the Argentine Declaration of Independence. The four participating associations of that tournament gathered together in order to officially create a governing body to facilitate the organization of the tournament. Thus, CONMEBOL was founded on July 9, 1916, Argentine Independence Day, under the initiative of Uruguayan Héctor Rivadavia, but approved by the football associations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The constitutional congress on December 15 of that same year ratified the decision. Over the years, the other football associations in South America joined, with the last being Venezuela in 1952. Guyana, Suriname, and the French overseas department of French Guiana, while geographically in South America, are not part of CONMEBOL. Consisting of a French territory, a former British territory, and a former Dutch territory, and located near the Caribbean Sea, they are part of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), mainly due to historical, cultural, and sporting reasons. With ten member nations, CONMEBOL is the smallest and the only fully continental land-based FIFA confederation (no insular countries or associates from different continents). Competitions International The main competition for men's national teams is the Copa América, started in 1916. CONMEBOL also runs national competitions at Under-20, Under-17 and Under-15 levels. For women's national teams, CONMEBOL operates the Copa América Femenina for senior national sides, as well as Under-20 and Under-17 championships. In futsal there is the Copa América de Futsal and Campeonato Sudamericano de Futsal Sub-20. The Campeonato Sudamericano Femenino de Futsal is the women's equivalent to the man's tournament. Club CONMEBOL also runs the two main club competitions in South America: the Copa Libertadores was first held in 1960 and the Copa Sudamericana was launched by CONMEBOL in 2002 as an indirect successor to the Supercopa Libertadores (begun in 1988). A third competition, the Copa CONMEBOL, started in 1992 and was abolished in 1999. In women's football CONMEBOL also conducts the Copa Libertadores Femenina for club teams. The competition was first held in 2009. The Recopa Sudamericana pits the past year's winners of the Copa Libertadores against the winners of the Copa Sudamericana (previously the winners of the Supercopa Libertadores), and came into being in 1989. The Intercontinental Cup was jointly organized with UEFA between the Copa Libertadores and the UEFA Champions League winners. Members CONMEBOL competitions National teams: *Copa América *Superclásico de las Américas *South American Under-20 Football Championship *South American Under-17 Football Championship *South American Under-15 Football Championship *Copa América Femenina *South American Under-20 Women's Football Championship *South American Under-17 Women's Football Championship *Copa América de Futsal *South American Under-20 Futsal Championship *South American Women's Futsal Championship *CONMEBOL Beach Soccer Championship ;Defunct *CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament Club: *Copa Libertadores de América *Copa Sudamericana *Recopa Sudamericana *Suruga Bank Championship *Copa Libertadores de Fútbol Femenino ;Defunct *Supercopa Libertadores *Copa CONMEBOL *South American Championship of Champions *Copa Ganadores de Copa *Copa de Oro *Copa Mercosur *Copa Merconorte *Copa Master de Supercopa *Copa Master de Conmebol *Supercopa de Campeones Intercontinentales *Intercontinental Cup *Copa Interamericana *U-20 Copa Libertadores Performances at FIFA tournaments Men's World Cup Finals World Cup Participation and Results ;Legend *'1st' – Champion *'2nd' – Runner-up *''' 3rd ' – Third PlaceThere was no Third Place match in 1930; The United States and Yugoslavia lost in the semifinals. FIFA recognizes the United States as the third-placed team and Yugoslavia as the fourth-placed team using the overall records of the teams in the 1930 FIFA World Cup. *'4th''' - Fourth place *'QF' – Quarterfinals *'R16' – Round of 16 (since 1986: knockout round of 16) *'R2' - Second round (for the 1974, 1978, and 1982 tournaments, which had two group stages) *'GS' – Group Stage (in the 1950, 1974, 1978, and 1982 tournaments, which had two group stages, this refers to the first group stage) *'1S' – First Knockout Stage (1934–1938 Single-elimination tournament) *Q — Qualified for upcoming tournament * • — Did not qualify * — Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned * — Hosts FIFA Confederations Cup ;Legend *1st – Champions *2nd – Runners-up *3rd – Third place *4th – Fourth place *GS – Group stage *Q — Qualified for upcoming tournament * •• — Qualified but withdrew * • — Did not qualify * × — Did not enter / Withdrew from the Copa América or withdrew from the Confederations Cup / Banned * — Hosts Women's Women's World Cup Finals The following table shows the CONMEBOL representatives at each edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, sorted by alphabetical order. CONMEBOL presidents * 1916–1936 Héctor Rivadavia Gómez * 1936–1939 Luis O. Salesi * 1939–1955 Luis Valenzuela Hermosilla * 1955–1957 Carlos Dittborn Pinto * 1957–1959 José Ramos de Freitas * 1959–1961 Fermín Sorhueta * 1961–1966 Raúl H. Colombo * 1966–1986 Teófilo Salinas Fuller * 1986–2013 Nicolás Léoz * 2013–2014 Eugenio Figueredo * 2014– Juan Ángel Napout Current Champions Rankings National teams Top FIFA ranked team ImageSize = width:150 height:700 PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10 DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:08/08/1993 till:17/09/2014 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1994 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy Colors = id:ARG value:blue id:COL value:red id:BRA value:yellow id:URU value:white PlotData= bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S from:08/08/1993 till:23/09/1993 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG from:23/09/1993 till:21/11/2001 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA from:21/11/2001 till:17/04/2002 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG from:17/04/2002 till:14/03/2007 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA from:14/03/2007 till:16/05/2007 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG from:16/05/2007 till:19/09/2007 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA from:19/09/2007 till:02/07/2008 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG from:02/07/2008 till:09/03/2011 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA from:09/03/2011 till:13/04/2011 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG from:13/04/2011 till:24/08/2011 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA from:24/08/2011 till:03/09/2012 shift:(20,-6) text:"Uruguay" color:URU from:03/09/2012 till:04/07/2013 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG from:04/07/2013 till:12/09/2013 shift:(20,-5) text:"Colombia" color:COL from:12/09/2013 till:10/04/2014 shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG from:10/04/2014 till:08/05/2014 shift:(20,-5) text:"Colombia" color:COL from:08/05/2014 till:17/07/2014 shift:(20,-3) text:"Brazil" color:BRA from:17/07/2014 till:end shift:(20,-5) text:"Argentina" color:ARG * Last updates: ** Men's national teams: 18 September 2014 ** Women's national teams: 20 June 2014 Clubs CONMEBOL Last updated on: July 24, 2013 – Current Standings IFFHS Last updated on: May 31, 2014 – http://www.iffhs.de/cwr-may-2014/ References Category:Confederations